When they escaped the others behind Piper’s bedroom door, she immediately attacked him, only this time he knew she was sober.
“Where did that come from?” he asked between kisses, lifting her and pressing her back to the wall.
“No idea.” She nipped at his lip and giggled, wrapping legs around his waist.
Kol took her face in his hands and held her still, pinning her to the wall with his hips. “Is it weird to say I’m proud of you?”
She blushed deeply, eyes darting away from his. “Maybe, but I would still like it if you did.”
“I’m proud of you, Piper MacLean.”
The lights strung up around the room reflected back in the brilliant brown of her eyes as she looked back at him. There was no excuse needed this time when she kissed him, no intoxication and no mistletoe, just a deep yearning they both gave in to. Her soft lips were deliberate and gentle, their fervor tucked away as tenderness took over. Kol wasn’t sure he’d ever been kissed like that before, and when Piper pulled back, he knew he never would be again.
“I don’t want to disappoint you,” he said, letting her slip back down and plant her feet on the floor, “but I’m not sure the tree will survive another night like last night. Unless you want to sneak off into the woods.”
Piper’s eyes went wide, and then she broke into a fit of laughter. “What’s in the woods?”
“It doesn’t seem to bother the tree when something happens to you far away from it.” Kol grinned. “I know it’s cold outside, but I can find a way to keep you warm.”
“Do I seemthatdesperately horny?” She ran a finger down his front, catching on the waist of his pants. “You know,youaren’t connected to the tree.”
Kol chuckled both from her touch and the look in her eye.Very funny, he thought, but he’d never gotten without giving before. “You can’t trick me,” he said, backing away from her and sitting on the bed. “You’ll barely brush against it, and next thing we both know, I’ll have you bent over and drolling into the pillows.”
“Oh, mygod.” She looked aghast, but it didn’t last, climbing onto his lap and pushing him backward. “I’m talking about repaying the favor.” Piper licked her lips and rolled her hips against the hardening length beneath her.
“Everything I’ve learned about you tells me you’ll probably get off even more doing that.”
She made a little sound of indignation but fell in beside him. “Well, that’s okay, we can just cuddle instead.” She was all arms and legs again, wrapping every limb around his body and dragging him close.
Kol prepared himself for her roving hands, seeking out his cock, but they didn’t come. Instead, Piper just hugged him and clung on, nuzzling her head under his arm and burying her cheek against his chest with a sigh.
“Oh, unless?” She pulled her head back and looked up at him, her grasp loosening. “If you don’t want to that’s…that’s okay too.”
Fuck yes, I want to!Kol struggled against the sudden stiffness that had overtaken him, as absurd as it was. He wanted nothing more than to be wrapped up by her, finally managing to bend his arm and bring it around her body. “No, that, uh…that sounds nice.” His voice was strained, and he cringed.
“You’re sure?”
He mumbled affirmations into her hair, pulling her into him. Her body was easy to move despite that she was curling away. Gods, of course he screwed up cuddling—the one thing he’d been craving for so long. He set his chin against the top of her head and reorganized her limbs so they were as before.
“Sorry if my feet are cold,” she whispered when they finally fell still.
“Don’t apologize for anything,” he whispered back.
24
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Piper woke because something was wrong. It was similar to the night before when, slippery and still in a delightful daze, she’d roused because a tickle in her chest told her to check the tree for something much worse than sugarplum fairiesorpurple-faced pixies. That same tickle was irritating her insides, but this time it felt urgent in the most dreadful way.
So she woke Kol for the second night in a row, and again he was eager to put his mouth all over her. She contemplated it for only a moment, but alarm beat out arousal.
The tree was…drooping—that was the nicest word for it. Its extra tall top had flopped over, and its branches looked to be melting under a sun that wasn’t yet out. Doc chased after one of the fallen ornaments, others scattered on the floor like leaves in autumn after a terrible storm. The color had half gone out of it too, a thing that could be seen even in the dark, the greens as sickly as a dehydrated frog.
Kol collected a few needles from the ground, but he didn’t bother to pull out his device. “Definitely not good.”
“It’s my fault,” she choked out. “You told me, but I wouldn’t let you take it, and now a seven-thousand-year-old tree is going to die because of me. Can you take it now?”
“I think it’s acclimated to the warmth in here. It’s way too weak to move.”
